


Workshop Safety

by Butterflydragon666



Category: Hollow Knight (Video Games)
Genre: Buzzsaws!, He still thinks Hollow is basically an animated doll, Multi, The Pale King is a Good Parent (Hollow Knight), To Hornet at least, father daughter bonding, no beta we fall like ghost
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-08
Updated: 2021-03-08
Packaged: 2021-03-14 10:35:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,819
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29915598
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Butterflydragon666/pseuds/Butterflydragon666
Summary: Hornet is bored. She's explored all of the palace, pranked retainers, and Hollow's just been taken away from training and she can't even watch. So what better thing to do than go spend time with her Papa? In which Hornet learns basic workshop safety, wonders why her Papa is so sad all the time, and witnesses the birth of the buzzsaw.
Relationships: Hornet & The Pale King (Hollow Knight), Lurien the Watcher/The Pale King (mentioned), The Pale King/White Lady (Hollow Knight)
Comments: 12
Kudos: 29





	Workshop Safety

Hornet was _bored_.

She’d already explored every inch of the Palace, pranked six retainers, and played with Hollow. She’d _still_ be playing with Hollow if it weren’t time for their training (no one ever told her what they were training _for_ , but she bet it was going to be super cool) and her attempts at sneaking in to watch were quickly halted by Dryya. The Great Knight had handed her off to her stepmama, who looked like she was hiding laughter at Hornet’s grumpy face.

“Dear child,” she started, smiling. “What troubles you so?”

What troubles her? Nothing, other than the fact that the White Palace was _booooring_ _._ “I’m bored,” Hornet complained, crossing her arms. “There’s nothing to _do_ here. I haven’t got any friends and Mama didn’t even let me smuggle in my Weaversong charm.”

The White Lady put a root to her chin, thinking. “Well, that’s certainly the predicament you’re in, dear child.” She rubbed between Hornet’s horns comfortingly. “Have you tried looking for your father? My Wyrm has just returned from tea with Lurien and he seems excited. Perhaps he’ll share with you if you asked.”

Hornet perked up immediately at the mention of her father. “Papa’s home?” she asked, wriggling in the Lady’s grasp. Her eyes sparkled in excitement. “I want to go see him!”

Her father was the _best!_ He played with her and answered a lot of her questions and always made her laugh. Sometimes he let her ride around in his crown! Papa said it tickled, but joked that it was good posture practice for him. He even snuck her treats even when stepmama told both of them not to have candy before dinner. She loved him, and wouldn’t give him up for _anything_.

Lately he’d been looking kind of sad, though, whenever he looked at her or Hollow. Hornet didn’t know _why_ , but she wished he could be happy again. Maybe she could make him happy?

The little spiderling was jolted from her thoughts as her stepmother set her back down. “Go on, child. He’s probably in his workshop.”

His _workshop!_ Hornet had never been in his workshop before! It was the only place she was strictly forbidden from entering without him, and she hadn’t had a chance to check it out yet. She knew where it was, of course, the retainers left food outside the door sometimes when Papa was busy. But she’d never actually been _inside!_

Hornet shot off like a fluke was chasing her, yelling a “THANK YOU!” over her shoulder as she exited the palace gardens. Navigating the palace was easy-Papa designed it to be orderly and to make _sense_ , not at all like the winding silk pathways of Deepnest. A left, right, straight, two more lefts, and a u-turn later, she skidded to a stop in front of Papa’s workshop door. A retainer had left a plate of food outside, so she picked it up and knocked.

A few moments later, her Papa opened the door, looking straight ahead in apparent confusion before breaking into a warm smile as he spotted her. “Hello, child. What brings you here?” He had wet hands, she noted. Like he’d washed them.

“I was bored!” Hornet chirped. “And Stepmama said to come see you because you were excited and might share with me. Also you left your food outside! Silly Papa!” she giggled, going to bring the plate inside.

Her father stopped her, though. “We never ever bring food inside the workshop, Hornet,” he chided gently. “Stuff we don’t want to eat might get inside it.”

Stuff? Like what? Food was food, right? And if it fell down, you could just pick it up again. Her confusion must have shown on her face, because then her Papa laughed. “You wouldn’t want to eat metal bits, would you? Or glue?”

“Eww!” she squealed, laughing. “No! That’s gross, Papa! Why would you even _eat_ that!” Hornet backpedaled, putting the plate back onto the floor. “I don’t want you to eat glue!” She plopped down next to the plate, finally taking note of what was on it. A thick slice of Boofly steak smothered in spore gravy, mashed and roasted Vengefly guts, and-

Her eyes grew wide, and she looked between the slice of honey cake and her father multiple times. “Papa can I-”

“We can share it,” he bargained, sitting down next to her. “We can split it in half, child, and then you can come inside my workshop. How does that sound?”

Hornet was torn. On one hand, she _really really_ wanted that sweet...sticky...delicious...honey cake. She never got to have it at home. But on the _other_ hand...Papa’s _workshop_. She hugged her toy needle as she deliberated, trying to figure out which she wanted more. “But...can’t I have _both?_ ” she pouted, turning her tiktik-eyes onto her father.

Papa held firm against them, to her disappointment. “Half the honey cake and the workshop, or the full slice of honey cake and no workshop.”

She drooped. “I _guess_ you can have half of the honey cake,” she sighed, looking mournfully at the dessert. “But can I have some of your mashed Vengefly too?”

“That, I can agree to,” Papa nodded, petting her head. “Are we going to eat on the floor, or…?”

Hornet answered his question by nabbing his fork and taking a bite of his Vengefly. “Hewe,” she answered, mouth full. She climbed into her father’s lap, making herself comfortable against his chest. His lower pair of hands clasped in her lap, keeping her there. She swallowed. “Papa, eat faster! I wanna see the workshop!”

He laughed. That was good, he didn’t laugh nearly as much as he should in her opinion. He always looked worried and scared whenever he thought no one else was looking. “You should laugh more, Papa.”

“Alright, my little Hornet,” he agreed easily. “I will, if it makes you happy. Now hush and let me finish eating.” The king plucked the fork from his daughter’s hand, quickly digging into the meal. He had to playfully slap aside Hornet’s sneaky hands when they reached for the honey cake, but let her eat as much of his mashed Vengefly as she wanted. She pouted every time he denied her cake, but settled down each time. He did split the cake once he was done with everything else, giving her half like he’d promised. Hornet wasted no time in pouncing upon the cake slice, devouring the sweet snack. Her father finished eating soon afterwards, setting the plate aside. “Shall we go inside, you little menace?”

Hornet cheered in response. “Workshop! Workshop!” She was _so_ excited! _I wonder what’s inside? Probably cool machines, and cool stuff, and maybe those funny flying machines Papa made? Oh! Or a cool new weapon that I could use to finally beat Hollow!_ (She disregarded the fact that Hollow was much, much bigger than her. It didn’t matter anyways!)

“First,” the king spoke, attracting her attention. “We need to wash our hands.” Before she could ask why, he stood, carrying her in his lower set of arms. “We wash our hands because just like we don’t want metal bits and glue in our food, we don’t want food in our metal bits and glue. That’s called contamination. Can you say that, Hornet? Contamination?”

She scrunched up her face in concentration. “Con-ta-mee-nay-shun.”

“Perfectly said, dear child.” Hornet perked up at the praise. “Anyways, contamination is bad. It’s when something touches another thing that makes that thing bad, less useful, or even dangerous. So we wouldn’t want that at all.” The king stepped inside his workshop and closed the doors behind him, and Hornet couldn’t help but stare.

She had been right when she thought of cool contraptions and mystical machines. The workshop was absolutely littered with them. There was some strange black stuff in jars too, that… _hey! It kinda looks like Hollow’s carapace!_ Hornet resolved to ask her Papa about it later. For now, she watched him wash his hands and then washed her own hands when directed, making sure to scrub thoroughly with soap. Papa then handed her a tiny apron, gloves, and goggles. “Make sure to put those on. We can be contaminated too, or hurt, by some of the machines and materials in the workshop. And you don’t want to be contaminated, do you?” he asked playfully.

“No!” Hornet laughed, jamming the goggles onto her head. Papa muffled a laugh, helping her put the apron and gloves on. She put her tiny hands over his once he was done, curiously examining how they faded from pitch black to white. “Papa? Did you get con-ta-mee-nay-ted? Is that why your hands are black?”

She didn’t miss his flinch and the way his smile dropped, if only for a moment. “Yes, my child. I did get contaminated. It wasn’t very fun, and it happened because I was being very silly and tried to work without PPE.”

“What’s P-P-E?”

“It stands for ‘Personal Protective Equipment’. It’s things like gloves, aprons, helmets…”

“So we’re wearing that stuff now?” He nodded, affectionately rubbing her head again. “Why was there a small one? You’re not that small and no one else is allowed inside.”

“Well...I made it for you, Hornet.”

She gasped. “For _me_?” Papa smiled and nodded again.

“Mmhmm. I thought you might want to join me sometimes.”

Hornet beamed. Here was even _more_ proof that her Papa was the best. He made stuff for her too because he hoped she’d spend time with him! “You’re the best Papa ever,” she told him gleefully, smile faltering as she saw him try to hide his flinch again. “...Papa?”

“I…” He looked a little shaken, but put on a smile again for her. “I’m alright, child. I’m glad you think so highly of me.”

“It’s facts, though,” Hornet huffed. “Can you show me cool stuff now? Stepmama said that you went to see Mr. Watcher and then you got super excited.” She squinted. “You’re excited a lot when you see Mr. Watcher. Mama calls him a simp, but I don’t know what that means. Doesn’t sound very nice, though. Is he your boyfriend or something?”

Papa _choked_ , flushing bright blue. “Hornet?”

She blinked, tilting her head. _Why is he blue?_ “Yeah?”

“Never say that again.”

“Why?”

“It’s very rude to Mr. Watcher, and also not very true.”

“So...it’s a bad word?”

“...kind of, yes.”

“So is he your boyfriend or not?”

He made a strangled sound in his throat, looking away. “...no, he’s not my boyfriend. In any case, he doesn’t like me like that.”

(In his Spire, Lurien was currently painting a picture of the king with hearts around it. Lurien definitely liked him back.)

But Hornet had no way of knowing that, and so just shrugged and nodded. “Mmkay. But what were you doing?”

Papa rubbed at his face, looking like he was trying to get all the blue off. “Well...we were talking about perpetual motion machines-”

“You were talking about _what?_ ”

“A machine that powers itself forever,” he explained. “They’re actually impossible, but it got us thinking...what if we could make something like that?”

Her brow furrowed. “But you just said it was _impossible_.”

“I did, didn’t I? But see.” The king brought Hornet over to one of the workbenches, setting her down in a chair. “Do not touch, though. This is dangerous, and I don’t want you to get hurt, okay?” He waited for her nod, then continued. “Good. Do you remember what Soul is?”

“Yeah! It’s the life juice that’s in everything! And we can use the Soul inside us to do spells! You _are_ going to teach me spells someday, right?”

“When you’re older,” he promised. “Now see. We know that we can use Soul to power spells, but what if we could use it to power something else? And if we could do that, what if we could make something that uses the Soul in the air?” The king smiled, picking up a small device. “That’s what this is. It takes Soul from the air, and causes this stick in the middle to spin. It needs a little push of Soul to start with, but then it can power itself for a long, long time.” He handed it to Hornet. “Be careful.”

Hornet’s eyes were wide as she held up the machine, turning it this way and that to look at all the different sides of it. “It’s as big as my head!” she gasped. “And it’s got funny lines on it! It looks super complicated too.”

“It is very complicated! The funny lines are runes and glyphs, they help pull in the magic we need to make the rod spin.”

“Whoa.”

“It _is_ rather cool, isn’t it,” he smiled. “Here, hand it back-thank you-and watch this. Stay far from this one, alright? It’s very, very dangerous and absolutely not safe to touch.” He made sure she was staying put before crossing to a second workbench, using a vise to hold the device in place. Hornet watched him take a metal circle with triangles cut out of the outer edge and attach it to the device’s stick, using some round pieces of metal to hold it in place. “Ready, Hornet? Can you count down from three?”

Hornet nodded, excited. “Three! Two! One! Go!” she cheered, eyes glued onto the device. She gasped as the funny lines started to glow white, and the big metal circle on the top started to spin. It started out slow, and then got faster, and faster, and faster! Soon the air was filled with a metallic whine, the device showing no signs of stopping. “Whoa!” Her eyes sparkled. “Papa that’s so cool! What’s it called?”

Papa laughed, coming back over to scoop her into his arms. “Well, I was going to call the device itself a motor.”

“Mo-tor,” she tested, trying out the word. “What about the metal thingy on top?”

“I was going to call it a saw, because it looks like a hand saw bent into a circle. But well...you can hear the noise it makes, right?”

“Uh huh. It sounds like bees! It’s all like bzzzzzzzzzzzz.”

“It makes buzzing sounds. So I decided to call it a buzzsaw!”

Hornet blinked at him. “Buzzshaw!”

“No, child. Buzzsaw.”

“Buzzshaw.”

He burst out laughing, loud and happy with none of that sadness that seemed to hang over him so much. “Oh, _Hornet_.”

She grinned up at him, proud that she’d managed to make him laugh. “Buzzshaw!” she declared again, earning herself a fresh round of laughter. 

Eventually, his laughs died down to mere snickers, and then it was gone. Papa still had a smile on his face, though. “Did you like it?”

Hornet nodded excitedly. “It was super cool!”

“Are you still bored?”

She shook her head wildly. “Nope! Your workshop is awesome!”

“Well...what if you came in here more often, then? We could make things together,” he suggested, picking her up again. “I still don’t want you in here without permission or by yourself, but we could make a schedule of it. Uninterrupted father-daughter tinkering time. How does that sound?”

_More_ time with Papa? Doing cool stuff like making buzzshaws? How could she say no? Hornet nodded excitedly. 

“Well, I was hoping you’d say that!” He bumped his mask with hers, Hornet giggling as he nuzzled her. “Is there anything you want to try making?”

“Oh! Well, I kinda wanted to make some kinda Dirtcarver trap…”

The duo ended up staying in the workshop, tinkering, until the Lady came to fetch them at sunset.

It was the best day ever, in her opinion. She’d never had so much fun, she mused sleepily as Papa carried her to her room. 

And if there was something she’d forgotten to ask him about? Well, it couldn’t be too important, anyway, now could it? She’s sure she’d remember it eventually.

Hornet was asleep the instant her head hit the pillow, completely unaware of Papa looking down at her with a sad smile. “Goodnight, Hornet,” he whispered, stroking her pale cheek. “I’m going to cherish every second that you still love me, my dear child. Rest well.”

He stepped away, turning the lights off before exiting her room.

One day she would hate him. One day she would have to say goodbye to her mother and her beloved older sibling on the same day. One day she would be left behind as the kingdom fell to ruin, tasked with slaughtering her own half-siblings until she came across a sufficiently strong one to guide. One day she’d look back on her spiderling days with bitterness, only disdain left for the father she had once adored so much.

(But maybe, just maybe, she still loved him just a little bit.)

That day was not today. And so she slept, blissfully unaware of the future.

**Author's Note:**

> The "buzzshaw" joke is inspired by one of Biovyx's drawings! Link here: https://biovyxart.tumblr.com/post/186150717140/how-hornet-learned-that-one-attack-cry-mystery#notes


End file.
